Death has an Offspring
by xXChirushiXx
Summary: Kokoro has it tough, kidnapped, forced to be a ninja and consistently fighting for her freedom. What will she do when she finds out a secret that could end the world as everyone knows it? Shiro has had a very peaceful life, even for a Konoha ninja. What will he do after finding out who sheltered him from all his pain? A story about Friendship, Family, Resilience and Love...
1. A Perfect Family

_**~Death has an Offspring~**_

 _ **Chapter ONE – Perfect Family**_

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Published 3rd May, 2016…

 **~Summary~**

Kokoro has it tough, kidnapped, forced to be a ninja and consistently fighting for her freedom. What will she do when she finds out a secret that could end the world as everyone knows it? Shiro has had a very peaceful life, even for a Konoha ninja. What will he do after finding out who sheltered him from all his pain? A story about Friendship, Family and Resilience

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 _On that day, I woke up with a grin on my face. I shouldn't have been grinning on that day, it was the start of the end so I always question myself why it felt so good... But maybe that day was just so perfect because it was the last perfect day…_

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was the poster on the roof above my bed. The poster was given to me last month by a passing gypsy lady who sought refuge in our house during a storm. The lady was stunningly beautiful, really nice and a dancer. She was on her way to Konoha for a performance. She did a little show for my family and I, and even showed me some moves. I decided that I wanted to be someone like her so before she left she gave me a promotion poster for her upcoming performance.

I imagined myself in the same position she was in the picture, dancing and twirling around, barefoot with long thin ribbons tied to each of her fingers that followed her hand movements like a stream of water.

With that thought, a grin formed on my face, right until I was jumped on.

"Toshi!" I kicked and screamed until I got my laughing three-year-old brother off me.

"Koko, Koko! Today going to be good! I just get that feeling!" He giggled and tried to jump onto me again. "Maybe Papa is coming! Wouldn't that be good!?"

"Toshi! Get off me, I'm you bigger sister so I'm the boss and I say get off me!" I pushed him out of my bed and onto the cold wooden floor with a thump and an 'owe'. I smirked. "Thank you! Now, what's this about Papa coming? You know he never turns up when he is expected right?"

"I just know Papa will come today; I just do, I just do!"

I tried to roll my eyes but Toshirou laughed at my attempt. I jumped out of bed and tried making it but it wasn't very neat, I wish I could do it as well as Mamma did. At least it was better than Toshi's unmade one.

We headed out into the hallway, Toshirou looked like he was debating whether or not to wake up Mum or play in the living room until she wakes herself. His eyes lit up and he headed further down the hallway towards Mamma's bedroom. I followed with a cheeky grin. We almost run down her old bedroom door and started bouncing on her creaky double bed, laughing and giggling loudly to wake her up.

"Wakey, wakey!"

"Rise and shine!"

"Get out of bed!"

"Today is fine!"

Suddenly Mamma pinned the two of us down and gave us a big hug without opening her eyes.

"No! The dragon got us! The dragon got us!" Toshirou wailed.

"I'm suffocating, I'm dying! The dragons going to eat us Toshi!" I started squirming.

Unexpectedly, Mamma stopped squeezing and rolled over on top of us, "This dragon needs her breakfast!" She started tickling Toshi's bare tummy and attacking mine with raspberries. It felt like the world was ending until she paused to give Toshi a go who inevitably kicked me in the stomach. "Alright, that's enough. Time to get the day rolling."

Mamma pulled herself out of bed and headed to the kitchen with us following after her much taller figure. She prepared our usual meals and fed us first before herself.

"Toast is much better!" Toshirou poked his tongue out at me. "Cereal is yuck! And toast is better!"

I fell for the bait, "Na! Cereal is the bomb! Cereal is for breaky, toasted sandwiches are for lunch and dinner is dinner. You're meant to follow the rules."

Mum laughed at us and we both stared at Mamma like she was the weird one. She joined us with her food and let us bicker until she sent us in to get dressed in yesterday's clothes so that she could start school. "Meet me in the classroom at 8 o'clock." I could tell she was testing us, to see if we could read the analogue clock. She taught Toshi how to write numbers this week and about clocks yesterday.

The class room was the small third bedroom of the little shack we lived in. Mum wanted to home-school us so when Toshirou was born she put the both of us in one room, she, and Papa when he was home, had the master bedroom and the third one became a classroom with one wall painted with blackboard paint.

I was given a worksheet to read that told me to colour in with certain colours which was really easy while Toshi learnt more of his A, B, Cs. At break time I picked on him like usual. I was so much better then him at school, but Mum butted in saying that that's only because I'm two years older. I still recon I'm better and that he's a baby.

The grin from this morning came back again as Toshirou and I were freed in the afternoon from the classroom, or as Toshi called it, the devil's room. Mamma said that we can have the afternoon off, whereas we usually would be outside working on our fitness and flexibility. We do that because she gets worried about bad people and wants us to be good enough to run away. It's stilly in my opinion, no one ever comes to our forest. Apparently there are lots of other grownups and other kids like us but some can be really mean, more mean than when Toshi and I are mean to each other. Although we haven't seen any of them. I don't think they are real and Mamma is just trying to scare us.

We ran outside into the sunlight before Toshirou swiftly tackled me into the grass.

"I'm stronger than you! I'm going to be the better ninja!" He tossed his hands up into the air with joy and that's when I attacked, knocking him off me, I rolled on top of him and put all my weight on him.

"Na, I win" I smirked and he pouted.

"Let's play ninja! I finally finished making enough kunai and shuriken for us to share." He climbed out from under me and ran back into the little wooden shack we called home. He returned with a big grin and his arms full of cardboard cut-out kunai and shuriken shapes. "We can play one of your games next."

I couldn't wait for my game, I think I'll get him to dress up as a girl and do his hair and we can have a dancing show for mum. "Actually! Why don't we play both ninja and my game?" I had an epiphany.

"What's your game?"

"We can be dancing girls wearing outfits who are secretly ninja and when we fight, we use dance moves too."

"Ewe! I don't want to be a dancer. If you have to dress me up I will be a ninja watching and we can team up against the baddies or we can just fight."

I scrunched up my face for a moment. "Fine! Can I still do your hair?"

Toshirou made a duck face but compliantly sat down and handed me one of the multiple hair pieces scattered on the ground near the back door.

"Yes! You're the best little brother in the world!

We played that game all afternoon. We pretended that we were enemies at the start then the trees came to life and attacked us; we had to team up to kill the trees. I was twirling around elegantly, well trying to, and dodging imaginary kunai that the trees were attacking us with and Toshi was aiming his paper shuriken at the tree when a real person jumped out.

Adrenalin ran through my veins as the figure pinned Toshirou's tiny screaming figure to the ground. I turned to run straight to mum inside the house, leaving Toshirou behind with the person on top of him.

Until the screams turned to laughter.

I spun around with wide eyes only to recognise the figure.

"Papa!? You scared the crap out of me!" I looked down to see my hands shaking.

Rapidly he disappeared from sitting on top of Toshirou to standing behind me, hands threateningly close to my tickle spot on my tummy. "Did I now?" A smirk played across his lips before he threw me up into the air above his head. The whoosh of the wind went past my head and I landed in his arms, dizzy. "Next time, do not ditch your brother. The two of you much stay by each other's side and protect each other. _Never ever leave each other's side_. Do you understand Kokoro, Toshirou?"

It took me a second to comprehend what he said after I got over the dizziness. I bit my lip. I knew that what I did was wrong. "I'm sorry Papa…"

"Good girl. Now what should you do?" He put me onto his shoulders as Toshirou jumped around at his feet.

I giggled, I was now tall, very tall. "Umm… yell for help but not leave him."

He smiled. "What if your mother was not around to help you?"

I furrowed my face at his question. "Why wouldn't mamma be here?"

"Just pretend, what would you do if your little brother was attacked and there wasn't help around?"

I was confused. My lip pouted and my brows lowered. I closed my eyes and zoned out the noise of Toshirou complaining about having a go and Papa talking to him so that I could think. That's when I heard it. It was like a heavy bird landed in the tall trees above, the branch crackled with the extra weight and the leaves rustled with the movement.

My oddly coloured eyes opened and I looked straight towards the sound; surprise on my face. It was almost like that part of the trees froze in time, if it was a bird it would have moved. Neither Papa nor Toshirou heard it over the sounds of their voice or the usual sounds of the forest.

"Um… Papa…?" I kept on glancing back at that spot.

Toshirou was suddenly flung onto Papa's back so that both of us were getting a ride.

"So Kokoro, did you work out what to do?" This time Papa's deep voice penetrated my thoughts.

"Um…"

"… I should have run up and distracted you for long enough for Toshi to get out and we both would do a runner into the forest towards the village." I started off slowly, still thinking about my answer then I sped up as I got more excited. The heavy 'bird' in the tree gone from my mind, Papa was finally back after being away for a week so I was too thrilled to think about it again.

 _I must have really been idiotic and naive back then. I wish beyond belief that I said something… but I didn't… I should have. I really should have… But I let it go… I forgot about the seaming insignificant incident until the following day… But that was too late…_

Papa stayed for the night, all of us ate a big dinner together then Toshirou and I were sent to bed at nightfall but we stayed up till late whispering to each other.

Papa brought us a whole lot of new supplies so that we could eat without going back to the village for another week. He even brought extra so that we could have a big breakfast in the morning before he left.

Toshi and I awoke at the same time to the smell of something really good, it smelt like what heaven would smell like. We ran out of our room together without making our beds to be greeted by Papa in Mamma's cooking apron and the frying pan on the stove top.

"Papa! What are you cooking?"

"Are we in heaven? It smells so good!" Toshi complimented with his heterochromia eyes closed and his nose up in the air.

Papa grinned. "If you two go get dressed in some clean clothes then wake your mother up you will find out."

We ran back into our room and I hastily made my bed. When I turned around Toshirou was sitting on his unmade bed with his brows furrowed. "Toshi? Are you alright?"

His little brows lowered even more and his lips puckered. "Somethings different about today…"

I sat down next to him. "What's different?"

He lifted his head and stared straight into my eyes, almost looking for something. His eyes had a piercing gaze, the fact that his right eye was the same colour as mine but his left eye was completely opposite in colouring didn't help either. "The food smells too good. Almost like it shouldn't smell this good."

My head tilted in curiosity.

"Big sister, you know that you are the best and that I love you right?"

I almost fell back, "What's happening, is it the end of the world? I've never heard you say that to anyone but Mum, not even Papa."

He gave me a big grin but I could tell that he was hiding something. "I love you Koko. Can you please get something out for me to wear?"

A chuckle escaped my lips, he was just sucking up to me. _I think_. However, I already knew he couldn't properly dress himself on his own. He would probably forget to get out undies and socks and go a whole day without.

I found matching clothes and put them on his bed for him, undies, socks and all, like I usually have done every second day along with getting my own. It wasn't long before we knocked onto Mum's door to wake her up like 'good' children in front of Papa and we were all at the dining table.

Papa handed out sausages, bacon, eggs and toast to all of us.

"It's the bacon we could smell Toshi!" I cried happily as I handed him my toast and we dug in; the bacon disappearing from our plats first as the delicacy was such a rarity.

"Mamma, can I please have your bacon?" Toshirou said with food in his mouth.

"Me too! Papa can I have yours?" I followed suit.

Our parents laughed and glanced at each other. "You two can share all my bacon, Mummy hasn't had bacon in a long time so let her enjoy hers." Papa smiled as he halved his between the two of us.

We both supported the same grin as Mamma and Papa laughed. We didn't pay much attention to the adult's big people's talk that followed as we ate, it made no sense to the either of us. Breaky finished slowly, Toshirou took his time eating my piece of toast for some unknown reason and refused to let Papa leave until he was done.

"Toshi, are you done yet? Can we please leave the table, Papa?" I wined, Papa had a rule that whenever he was here we couldn't leave the table until everyone was done.

As soon as Toshirou put his last mouthful of toast in his mouth Mamma pulled his plate away from him. "Papa really needs to head off or he will be late for work, and that's not good Toshirou."

The boy wined, "But I have a bad feeling if Papa leaves…" His bottom lip was pouting.

I frowned at him, he had this weird ability to know what was going to happen and he only ever hinted to me about it, this was the first time I had seen him mention it to Mamma or Papa.

Papa ruffled my little brother's hair, "Don't worry mate, I will be alright, Mamma and Kokoro will be safe too because I will be back as soon as I can and you can protect them until then." He grinned, "Make sure you two help your mother with the washing up."

We all headed out the front and each gave Papa a hug before waving goodbye as he jumped up into the treetops and bounded away after waving.

"Mamma, when will Papa be back?" Toshi asked before I could, both our eyes were on her as we each held one of her hands.

"Hmmm, that's a good question." She giggled, "It all depends on when he can sneak away from work again." We sighed, same answer as always. "Come on, let's go back inside and clean up." She lead us back to the open front door to our old wooden home and into the hallway.

"Koko," Toshirou grabbed my hand and pulled us ahead, he was trying to get out of clean up duty. "Let's go pla-"

' _ **Boom**_ '

I was flung into a wall as something exploded at the other end of the house. My ears were ringing painfully as I curled into a ball. It hurt, it hurt! I bit my lip in pain as I tried to open my eyes only to see black before they starting to sting. I tried to breathe but I ended up coughing and gasping for air – the smoke was really thick.

It felt like a firework went off in the house.

I waved my hands around until I felt the wall behind me and used it to pull myself up. My ears hurt and the world was spinning but at least gravity told me which way was down so I went with that.

"Toshirou!" Another coughing fit started and my eyes burned from the smoke as I tried to feel around for my little brother. I froze when I kicked something with my foot, it was his leg. It was limp.

I felt around the wall until I found a doorway before dragging my little brother into the kitchen. The smoke was much thinner in here and I could finally see his face, open eyed and full of fear.

"Toshi!" I whispered as I shook his small body only to receive a moan. He was alive, he was awake but in shock.

I ran over to the kitchen sink and washed my hands before washing my stinging eyes and face before grabbing the face cloth, wetting it and cleaning the dirt from around Toshirou's eyes. With that, the boy finally woke up from this shocked state.

"Koko… ro" His eyes slowly followed me as I checked over his body for injuries, I couldn't bare seeing my little brother hurt and in such a state. Suddenly realisation dawned on his face, "Kokoro wha-!"

My hand was on his mouth in a heartbeat. "Shhh!"

His daunting eyes were wide with fear and innocence. Papa's words from yesterday echoed in my head, ' _Do not ditch your brother. The two of you much stay by each other's side and protect each other. Never ever leave each other's side_ '.

Along with those words, the heavy 'bird' in the tree came to mind but I didn't dwell on it.

"Don't worry, I will protect you. We will get out of this together." I whispered, his reply was a nervous smile. "Do as I say, we must work together." He nodded.

A figure passed the other side of the kitchen window and I noticed at the last moment. I jumped to my feet and grabbed Toshi pulling him into the corner of the room, away from the door and window. That was definitely not Mamma or Papa outside. We curled into a ball with the wall behind us, hugging each other and both shivering in fear. My eyes did not leave the doorway.

The fact that I just put a larger distance between ourselves and our escape crossed my mind but I didn't know what else to do. We didn't know where Mamma was and for all I know, that bad person in the window could have taken her. All I could do was hope that my decision to stay put was the right one.

That's when we heard the footsteps.

Toshirou's grip on my waist tightened.

The footsteps were slow and irregular.

Why wouldn't they be consistent, running…? "…Mamma?" I said it without thinking, I do that a lot.

The footsteps stopped. I felt Toshi shiver with fear. He didn't believe it was Mamma. It took only one more footstep before a shadow appeared. Toshi's grip felt strangling.

"… Kokoro!?" Mamma's voice was hushed and shocked as she stepped out of the smoke and coughed. She noticed that we were both here, "Are you both okay?"

We nodded with big wide eyes, she hesitated at our combined stare. She had said previously that our eyes were not normal and it still startled her sometimes.

She ushered us over to her near the door just as we heard another bang outside and a shout from the front door. "Crap!" Her eyes flashed in the direction of the front door before going back to us, "They're… burglars, they can have our stuff, just stay together."

I eyed her for a moment, thinking about that heavy 'bird' again, I could tell that Mamma didn't believe what she had said. That worried me.

She roughly grabbed our hands and almost dragged us behind her as she ran into the hallway towards the backdoor. She stopped so quickly that we both ran into her legs.

We poked our hands around her figure only to see the burglar clearly. He was scarier than any burglar I had ever pictured in my mind. He was large and full of muscles under his dark clothes and had a black balaclava over his face with only his eyes showing. However, the scariest thing about the man wasn't the face mask; it was the small pouch at his thigh, the weirdly shaped knife in his hand and the look in his eyes. His eyes were calculating, knowing; it felt like he knew everything about me, even the things that I didn't know.

In that moment I knew. I knew that he wasn't a burglar. He didn't want our stuff. This was a real ninja. He was eyeing Toshirou and I like we were food and Mamma was just in the way.

Mamma's movement was quick, quicker than anything I have ever seen from her. One second I was standing in the hallway beside the closed bedroom door and the next second I was in said bedroom with Toshirou beside me and the door slammed shut.

Toshi and I were too slow to comprehend what happened. I had my hand on the doorknock when we heard the burglar speak.

"Give me the children and you won't be hurt." It was an order. His voice was deep and abrupt; straight to business. "Neither will they if you hand them over without any fuss."

"Who are you?" Mamma's voice was much more high pitched then his and it shook at the beginning.

"Me? My name is Mister Macho." he mocked as he gave an evil chuckle, "If I am wearing a mask, why would I tell you my name. All you need to know is that you need to give me the children."

Toshi and I gulped. Mister Macho. That was the name of a superhero in one of Toshirou's favourite bedtime story books. But this time he was not a hero. Did the ninja know that?

Toshi tugged on my arm and pulled me away from the door. "We need to get out."

Mamma put us in here to escape, why hadn't I realised that already. I scanned the room, my bed was on the farthest wall and Toshirou's was on the wall closest to the door. We each had a stool as a bedside table and a cheap bookshelf was at the end of my bed with a handful of books in it. There was a small window on the wall between the heads of the two beds but it was really high from the floor. That took all of half a second for my brain.

We could use the window as an escape… I could reach using the stool if I was on my tippy toes. I glanced at Toshi, he was too short. He wouldn't reach and the stools were too unstable for me to lift him higher… The bookshelf! If we could get the bookshelf under the window we could climb up it like a ladder! Then we would be able to see while we unlatch the lock and easily climb out!

My whole thought process happened in a matter of two seconds.

"Toshi, window, bookshelf." I whispered.

He didn't need more than that to understand what I meant as we both started clearing out the bookshelf to make it lighter.

That's when we heard a second unknown voice from the hallway. "You're trapped, give us the children."

I bit my lip as we finally got the bookshelf below the window. There was more than one. How many I wonder?

I climbed up onto the window ledge and unlocked the glass. Toshi climbed up behind me he went out first, I lowered him down before I jumped down onto the ground. I looked back up to the window. Would Mamma follow?

Suddenly something silver flew between the two of us and landed on the wall. We froze. It looked like a small four pronged knife, Papa had things like this. Toshirou had called them shuriken. It was dangerous. My eyes flashed to where it came from.

"Hi!" An old voice mocked. "Only naughty children sneak out of windows."

I froze with fear but suddenly the world opened. It was almost like I had my eyes closed my entire life until then. I could see everything around me, even behind me in such detail. Our old wooden house was burning near the front, the window above was still jarred open and there was a third 'burglar' standing out in the open smirking at us. How had we not noticed him before.

The large man took a step forward and lazily threw two more star like blades at each of us. Time felt like it slowed down as it flew through the air and I easily ducked down then to the left to avoid the second one. Toshi somehow dodged them too.

The man's eyes sharpened. That's not good. "They are trained!" He bellowed before grabbing a handful more star blades and aimed them at us.

I knew my fear was evident on my face as the two of us ran parallel to the house, dodging the blades without having to look at them. I could see everywhere including where my eyes weren't looking.

Another figure stepped around the corner just before we got to it as the star blades stopped raining. I almost sighed as the figure turned into Mamma, however she was battered and bruised. My eyesight could tell that she was bleeding from her arm and a large bruise was forming on her leg.

Toshirou and I spun around just in time to see another weirdly shaped knife, I think Toshi called them kunai, land deep between the man's eyes. I wanted to puke.

Mamma grabbed our hands and started racing towards the tree line of the forest that surrounded our house. I could barely keep up. At some point my eyesight went back to normal and I felt like my eyes had closed, the difference between the two was almost as bad as suddenly going blind.

The two large men in balaclavas and dark clothing quickly started chasing us. My heartbeat was racing as I jumped over a trip hazard. Suddenly one of the men hit the ground with a thump and the second slowed to a stop only to find out that he man was dead with another kunai in his forehead.

A moment later Mamma abruptly pulled us to a stop and I stopped focusing on where to put my feet and onto what was in front of us. Four more men now stood in front of us as the Mr Macho burglar came up behind us. Behind their masks, they were all smirking.

And that's when the second explosion went off…

Pain

I was thrown into the air and harshly hit the ground, suddenly all the pain I was feeling disappeared in an instant. It was not a good feeling, for some reason I wanted that pain back. I felt empty. Like my body was gone.

I couldn't move, I couldn't hear anything, and the smoke was obscuring my vision.

 _Mamma… Papa… Toshi…_

My vision became blurry with tears.

 _I don't want to lose anyone!_

My world started shaking before I could focus on Mamma's face which was hovered over mind, her lips moving but no sound was coming out, her eyes welling up with tears.

She froze as if she heard something and she fearfully turn her back on me.

From my spot on the ground behind her, somehow, I could see what was scaring her clearly. My eyes had opened up again.

Mr Macho held him in the air by his hair with a kunai to his throat. Toshirou's right foot was bleeding profusely and he had a burn on his arm. But worst of all was the fear in his heterochromia eyes.

I couldn't move, time slowed almost to a stop as Mr Macho sliced Toshi's throat open, blood spurted out and darkness finally overcame me.

 _My peaceful, perfect life, ended on that day… I was only five years old…_

* * *

 **Authors Note**

I have to apologise for writing a new story and not updating my main one for so long. The plot bunnies have run away at the moment so this is what I ended up with when I tried to write.


	2. Induction

**~Death has an Offspring~**

 **Chapter TWO –Kokoro: Induction**

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 _Thump_

…

 _Thump_

…

 _Thump_

My head was pounding and I couldn't remember why. Had Toshirou and I stayed up too late last night talking again? Usually it's easy to wake up even if we stay up for hours. But not today it seemed. Why did my head hurt, why isn't everything hurting? Why should everything be hurting?

Voices flooded into my mind but I wasn't awake enough to comprehend them yet. Why were people in my room? Mamma usually doesn't come in just to talk, was she talking to Toshi? No, it wasn't Toshi's voice, but one of them was Mamma's.

The pillow wasn't very comfortable and the new blanket wasn't as fluffy as I remember it was when it was given to me, I couldn't feel it at all. I don't think my new fluffy blanket was even on top of me. My pillow was too hard. It felt like that one time I fell asleep at the dining table with my head hanging over the back of the wooden chair. Not pillow like at all. Ok, now I've decided that I am definitely _not_ in my bed.

I groggily opened my eyes and scan the room. The light was dim and not much could be seen, the walls almost seemed to be made of caved out rock but who would have the time to make a room inside a rock. That would be silly. I realised why my pillow was so uncomfortable, I was in a chair. Ropes bounded my arms, legs and chest. Why was I tied to a chair?

Abruptly I was laying motionlessly on the forest floor, Mamma's face hovered over mine but her words didn't reach my ringing ears. Why were they ringing, wasn't I in a chair? Suddenly Mamma's face disappeared, she had moved to look at something else. I tried to follow her eyes but her body shielded me from whatever had her so ridged. I strained my eyes to see passed her, I needed to see it! Unexpectedly the world lit up; I could see the bee that was buzzing around the bush behind and the four men that surrounded us. I could see what was behind Mamma; a fifth man held a young boy in the air by the hair. The toddler was bleeding profusely from his right foot and his arm was burnt. The man held up a kunai to his throat. The toddler was scared, terrified but he couldn't make a sound. As the kunai was pushed harder into his skin, the fear in his heterochromia eyes-

"Toshi!"

No, no, no, no, no! Where's Toshi? I was back in the dark room; the voices had gone quiet. I started hyperventilating.

"Darling, baby." I'm right here, calm down." A voice echoed in the darkness.

"Mamma?"

"I can't go to you but are you alright?"

Why can't Mamma come here, I needed her. This was a horrible nightmare. I needed my Mamma and Toshi. But Toshi was gone. It wasn't a dream. It was real. Tears welled up in my eyes. Wait, why can't Mamma come here? Unless she was tied up too. I didn't know if she was hurt too.

"Where are you? Where am I? Where is Toshi?"

My oddly coloured eyes started adjusting to the darkness, I wanted the world to light up as it had in the forest again but I didn't know how. Faint light bounced around the room, no cave, in the same way as a flame on a candle would light up a wall, the light didn't quite reach the corners. Mamma was bound to another chair to the left and I could feebly make out a figure standing just out of reach from the light. The figure's silhouette betrayed a kunai pouch on her leg.

' _Toshi!_ ' Fear filled eyes froze as blood spurted out from the kunai wound in his throat. His body fell limply to the ground, his head still held up via his curly brown hair. The twisted laughter of Mr Macho rung in my ears. _'He's dead because you couldn't save him! He's gone forever because you are weak! Toshirou is dead.'_ Mr Macho's rough voice said as his beady eyes stared down on me through the slits of the cloth covering his face. Blood dripped from Toshirou's neck like a leaky tap, pooling next to the beheaded body on the ground. All I could do was listen to Mr Macho's laugh as the pool of blood rose high and higher. It was up to my shoulders when I realised I can't swim, I would drown in Toshi's blood. I was too weak to save him, it's my fault that he's dea-

"Kokoro!"

The blood disappeared, Mr Macho faded and the beheaded Toshirou that my mind made up vanished. The dark cave was back.

"Are you alright?" Mamma said.

The tears in my eyes threatened to fall, if I was in Mamma's arms I would have let them too. But I didn't like the person that was standing silently in the shadows. What if it was Mr Macho waiting for me to break. I wouldn't let him. I wanted to be I'm Mamma's arms, I wanted Toshi to be in mine. I wanted Papa to be protectively holding all of us together as a family. I wanted my family to come back. A single tear escaped.

Mamma was looking as me expectedly, she wanted an answer. What was her question? Oh, I remember. My voice would have been too shaky if I spoke, I didn't want Mr Macho to see my weakness. I tried to shake my head instead.

The tears stopped immediately, I can't move.

At all.

The rope bound my arms, legs and chest; but there was nothing restricting the movement of my head. I tried to move my unbound finger.

Nothing. I tried to wiggle my toes.

Nothing. I tried to shake my head again.

Nothing.

"Mamma… I can't move." My voice concealed my fear, it was steady and emotionless. Somehow, I was confident that my eyes hid my inner turmoil too.

"What do you mean you can't move? Your tied to a chair, of course you can't move."

"No, Mamma. I can't move anything." This time, fear laced my words.

Mamma's white eyes widened with dread as she started verbally abusing the figure in the shadows.

The figure didn't move at first. Then a soft, feminine chuckle filled the air. "We wouldn't seriously hurt the girl."

I begged to differ.

"We didn't realise she was hurt any more than the burns on her side." The person took a step forward and I wanted to hide behind a wall.

One more step and the woman emerged from the darkness. It was a girl in her mid to late teens, she was the perfect example of average with straight, long brown hair, brown eyes and a thin figure. The only thing that stood out was the purple face paint on her checks and the expression in her eyes. Her eyes however were cold, beyond cold. They didn't match the softness in her voice.

"Let me have a look." The woman came closer with her hand glowing green. She ran it over my body and I got ghost chills even though I couldn't feel anything. Why couldn't I feel anything? Was it meant to hurt? I the chills stopped when she reached my neck, the glow was warm and comforting. Why couldn't I feel it before? "Well that's an interesting." She stopped and took a step back; I wanted her to continue.

"What's wrong?" My mother's words were harsh.

The teenager chuckled again. "It seems that you now have absolutely no way to get out of our deal. Your child broke her spinal cord."

Mamma gasped.

I didn't know what that meant.

The woman's voice held no sympathy as she told Mamma that I was now a _quadriplegic_. That was a big word. But I did understand when she explained that I was never going to run again. That was upsetting, I loved running and I was fast too. Maybe I'll just have to walk everywhere. A whimper escaped my lips, I wanted to run.

"She'll be useless now."

My heart stopped for a moment as my mother's words. This conversation was too hard to follow. I didn't want to be useless.

"She'll never be useful even with this kekkei-genkei she may or may not have." A single tear ran down Mamma's cheek and I realised that she wasn't quite calling me useless, she was trying to convince the other lady that I was. "First, you've attacked my family, killed my son in the most brutal way possible and kidnapped my daughter! Now you've taken any chance of a semi normal life away from my only child left! Just let us go so I can take care of my now disabled child." Mamma hissed.

The teenager chuckled again, not moved at all by the words. "Have you ever heard of a quadriplegic ninja. No? Well I am a medical ninja and its actually one of the easier things to heal with chakra. Your daughter doesn't have to be a quadriplegic for the rest of her life if you do what I say. I can heal her. Now will you listen to my proposal once again?"

I glanced between the two, trying to ignore the memory of Toshirou's terrified eyes that started popping up in my head again. I didn't understand everything. Some words I did, other words I missed over the sound of blood dripping from the severed head in my mind. One thing I did realise later, after I learnt the word for it, was that the teenager was blackmailing my mother.

Mamma hunched over and the teenager took it as a sign to continue.

The teen started telling a story. It was very much akin to one of the books Mamma once read to Toshi and I when he was just a newborn. It was about the end of the world; the book was called Noah's Ark. The teenager said that the gods didn't like what the world was becoming and they would destroy it in the near future, but what the gods have planned will kill everyone so they had to make a safeguard so that the Chosen Ones would survive, pretty much the gods had built a metaphorical ark to save people from the metaphorical flood that wasn't completely metaphorical. She said that I was one of the Chosen Ones.

"There is always unforeseeable danger in this world. If Kokoro has been chosen, then she will survive on that day. So why did you have to attack my family now?" My mother said sceptically.

The teen chuckled. "The god set with choosing the Chosen Ones runs my organisation. He finds children with the strongest potential to help build the new world. We train these candidates and put a protective seal on them which will make them exempt from the danger."

"That's bull." Mamma hissed, "You are not a god, your leader is not a god."

I coughed to get the attention of the adults, I had a few questions. "When will this danger come?"

"We do not know, little one." The teenager's voice softened but her eyes remained menacing.

The coldness in her eyes must be a permanent feature on her face, what had she seen to put it there? Had her 'Toshi' been killed in front of her too? Would I look like that one day? Stop it Kokoro! This teenager was bad! Don't try to connect with her!

The teen said that her organisation had been around since the Sage of Six Paths ruled, which was apparently about a thousand years ago; the end was decided when the Sage changed to world into something the gods hadn't planned. That was why the world now was filled with danger. That was why my little brother was dead. I scowled at that but let her continue. "The Chosen Ones will help the gods rebuild the new world."

"So when will it come?" I repeated my question, I didn't get the answer I wanted.

"If you are lucky, the new world may be created in your lifetime. However, this organisation has been waiting for a thousand years. You may not be lucky enough to see it in your lifetime, if so, you will be tasked with finding the next generation of chosen ones.

I thought all of this was poop. Gods this and gods that. Toshirou was killed because of this poo? Wait a minute; the teenager was blackmailing Mamma, but what with? There was more behind the scenes of this… this religious cult. "How… How can I help? You said I can't run ever again."

"Oh darling," The teen leaned forward, her hand caressed my cheek as I tried to recoil away from her but my disabled body wouldn't give me much of a budge. "If you promise to train and do everything we say, I can heal your little neck and you'll be able to walk again, even run again." Wait, I can't walk too? I thought it was just running.

The teenager wrapped her hand around the back of my neck like a snake then a strange green glow illuminated the room. Feeling slowly came back to my fingers and movement followed soon after; my toes wiggled this time. Suddenly pain ripped through my sides as large scorch marks reviled themselves along with the bruise on my back

"But," The teenager's voice turned harsh and she stared into Kokoro's eyes. "If you disobey…"

The glow returned.

 _Crack_

The sound echoed in my ears, louder than Mamma's curse.

All feeling was instantly gone.

All movement was instantly gone.

All pain was instantly gone.

I wanted that pain back even though it was agonizing. It dawned on me just what she meant when the teenager said I wouldn't run ever again. I wouldn't walk ever again. My fingers would never pick up a pencil ever again. I realised how much I was going lose if I didn't agree with her. I would just be a talking, eating, pooping vegetable and Mamma would have to do everything for me.

"What will happen to Mamma?"

The teenager's eyebrows rose; the 5-year-old child still had enough brains to ask smart questions after such an ordeal. "Usually we don't take in adults… You are actually the oldest child we've ever taken in."

My heartbeat was booming in my ears, what would they do to Mamma? Would they kill her like Toshi too?

"But we have made a deal. If Hitomi quietly follows everything we say and does not interfere with your training, she may live. If she's trustworthy enough, you may even get to see her." The teenagers smile softened.

Even as a 5 year old, I heard the unspoken words behind that smile. Mamma, Hitomi, was a prisoner. The teenager wasn't blackmailing Mamma anymore, she was blackmailing me. If I stuff up, Mamma will be killed. If Mamma didn't act accordingly, she would be killed. This stupid organisation was putting an inviable kunai on Mamma's neck and everything I do from here on out will determine the pressure.

There was no way out.

Just because Mamma had a kunai at her neck didn't mean she had to live in the slums. "Will Mamma be safe? Will she have food? Will she not be hurt?"

The teenager was surprised for a moment before promising that Hitomi would always have healthy food, clean water and a comfortable bed as long as I behave. She didn't answer my last question though.

I glanced over to my mother; in her white eyes, I could see defeat, but deeper down, there was a strength that the teenager wouldn't have been able to find. We weren't going to give up. We wouldn't willingly accept being controlled by Toshirou's murderers. We would be patient. But when we get the chance, Mamma and I would try to escape even if it killed us.

"What do you want me to do?"

"That's the spirit!" The teenager grinned, "I don't want you to be a quadriplegic for the rest of your life so I'm happy you agreed. I'm sorry about your mother's position but that's the best I can do. We are going to train you in preparation for the creation of the new world, but first, we need to put the seal on you and heal all of your injuries properly."

The woman freed me from my bindings and I slumped down in the chair. She picked me up bridle style in her arms, trying to avoid aggravating my burn wounds.

It took a lot of effort, but I managed to turn my head to see Mamma as the teenager headed for a corridor I hadn't noticed. Mamma face was full of worry and fear. I didn't want to leave her alone, I had hoped that the teenager would put heal me and put that stupid _Chosen One_ seal on me while I was in that chair next to Mamma. Was Mamma worried about herself? I could tell that in her eyes, Mamma wasn't worrying about herself, she was worrying about me. That's silly. She should be more worried about herself.

 _I didn't realise it until much later, but that was going to be the last time I would see my mother for a long time. I was five, they knew my Mamma was my strength. They were going to try and break me first._

I was placed on a stone table in another cavern. The table was littered with seals caved into it, they spilled over the edges, down the sides and onto the floor. The teenager flattened out my limps before strapping them down with some cloth. Her hands glowed again and bruises, burns and cuts painlessly healed like they were never there. My spinal cord was the last to heal.

With my sudden regain of movement, I peeked around the room only to find out that weren't alone anymore. The cavern was empty save for the table, a strange, tall, spiky plant in the shadows which wasn't there before and a red-haired woman waiting patiently in the corner.

Looking up at the cavern roof, I imagined that I was in bed at home; I could clearly picture the poster above my bed that the gypsy lady gave me. The ribbons followed her fingers and her bare feet floated across the floor as the lady danced. I imagined myself making those movements, doing them better than my attempt when I played outside with Toshi. I imagined myself dancing freely and living a life that I loved.

"Are you ready?"

The dance slipped through my fingers like running water as I meekly nodded. That future disappeared into the black hole that was created when Toshirou's blood was spilt. That was a future that I would never have. That carefree dance would never be my dance. But I won't give up. I'll find my own dance. My dance will be one that can save someone like Toshirou.

I never noticed the red-head put her hands on the edge of the seal.

"Welcome to Arata! You are joining the Chosen Ones that will lead the new world." The teenager said. "Just a little warning… This will hurt."

 _And it did._

* * *

 _Finally! One more chapter :)_

 _I apologize, this story wont link up with cannon for a while, I'm going to build some background first. Though, there are already 2 cannon characters who have made an appearance so far. I kinda feel sorry for Kokoro... she's going to be traumatized by Toshi's death for a while...  
Just letting everyone know that this is my own little project, I have no time limits for when chapters come out. They will come out when they are ready and of good quality._


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